Griper Blade: On Torture: Two Plans, One Solution

The idea that there won't be some sort of investigation into the Bush administration's policy of torture is probably a fantasy. It's just too big to be ignored. While President Obama has said that he's not in favor of investigations, he hasn't done a whole lot to tamp down talk of them. The most common assessment of the reasoning behind Obama's stance is that he's afraid that it'll make it harder to get policies he wants through Congress. But this doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense, since the very people who'd be most angered by torture investigations -- i.e., Republicans -- haven't been in the mood to participate in bipartisanship. For example, the stimulus bill passed through Congress with a grand total of three GOP votes; zero in the House and three in the Senate. As it is, Republicans are already doing their worst -- it's hard to imagine how it would be possible for them to be more obstructionist. The GOP actually filibustered a bill to prevent China from importing toys with lead paint. They're obstructing everything. As a result, angering the Republican party would be without any real consequence. They can fume and stomp around and throw tantrums on talking head shows, but they didn't keep any ammo in reserve. In a very real sense, they don't have anything left to threaten anyone with.

If Obama's worrying about torture investigations spoiling his new era of post-partisanship, he can stop worrying. The Republicans have no interest in it anyway.

But I suppose the Obama administration loses nothing by being standoffish about torture probes and would gain nothing by being aggressive. One way or another, it's looking more and more like it's going to happen. The direct involvement of the President isn't really required.

Still, some leadership would be nice. As it is, Congress is kind of wandering around offering competing solutions -- some good, some bad. One of these solutions will be applied and there's no guarantee that it'll be one of the good ones... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]